Today in Research: Gynecologists Aren't Talking About Sex Enough

Discovered: OB-GYNs aren't talking about sex enough, living alone is depressing, C-sections are too expensive, and there's a new type of land mass in town.

Gynecologists aren't talking about sex as much as you'd think. Funny,
because their entire profession relies on the act, right? But, only 40
percent of OB-GYN doctors surveyed ask questions about sexual
dysfunction on the regular. Only 29 percent routinely ask patients
about sexual satisfaction and 28 percent ask a patient's sexual
orientation. Shouldn't they want to ensure their patients have
satisfactory sex lives so that they'll create more babies, giving them
more business? Just saying. There's also health implications to not
asking. "Sexuality is a key component of a woman's physical and
psychological health," explained Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau. "Obviously,
OB-GYNs are well positioned among all physicians to address female
sexual concerns. Simply asking a patient if she's sexually active does
not tell us whether she has good sexual function or changes in her
sexual function that could indicate underlying problems." [Journal of Sexual Medicine]

Living alone is depressing. Sounds quite lovely to
us, but solo dwellers have an 80 percent higher risk of developing
depression compared with people who live with any other people. And
we're not just talking about elderly folk. The study looked at 3,500
working-aged men and women for seven years and compared their living
arrangements with a bunch of other risk factors. "Our study shows that
people living alone have an increased risk of developing depression.
Overall there was no difference in the increased risk of depression by
living alone for either men or women," explained researcher Dr Laura
Pulkki-Råback. [BMC Public Health]